Monday, September 28, 2009

Dr Hans-Herman Hoppe is an Austrian school economist and libertarian/anarcho-capitalist philosopher, Distinguished Fellow with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, founder and president of The Property and Freedom Society, and editor-at-large of the Journal of Libertarian Studies. He taught economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and at John Hopkins University in Bologna.

Lew Rockwell: Dr. Hoppe, tell us a little bit about democracy and monarchy?

Hans-Hermann Hoppe: The first point that needs to be made is that states, whether monarchical or democratic, are not firms. They do not produce anything that is sold in the market and receive payment for the goods that are produced, but they live off taxes which are course of payment made to them. So, I will neither advocate monarchies, nor am I advocate of democracies, but if one has to choose between two evils, monarchical state and democratic state, then monarchies have certain advantages. The reason is that kings were generally perceived by the public for what they are, that is, privileged individuals who could tax their subjects, and because everybody knew „I cannot become a king“, there was resistance against attempts on the part of kings to increase taxes into increased exploitation of their subjects.

Under democracy, the illusion rises that we all rule ourselves, even though it should be perfectly clear, of course, that also under a democracy there exist rulers and people who are ruled, but, because of the fact that everybody can potentially become a public employee, the illusion of „we rule ourselves“ arises, and this then leads to reduction of the resistance that existed vis-à-vis kings when it came to attempt of increasing tax revenue.

But there is an even more important disadvantage of democracy as compared to monarchy. One can imagine a king to be person who regards a country as his private property and the people living in his country as his tenants who pay some sort of rent to the king. On the other hand, if we have democratic politicians, they do not own the country as a king does, they are temporary caretakers of the country for four years, eight years and so forth, and the role of an owner versus a role of a caretaker is very, very different. One can imagine, for instance, that I make somebody owner of the house, so that he can sell the house in the market, that he can determine who will be his successor, who will be his heir, and, on the other hand, I give a house, the same kind, to somebody and make him for four years the caretaker of this house. That is, he can not sell the house, he can not determine who will be the heir, but he can make as much income out of using the house for a temporary period of time. And this will imply that temporary caretaker will use up the capital value embodied in the country in as fast time as possible, because, after all, he does not have to bear the cost of capital consumption, after all, the house is not his. Whereas a king, being the owner of the house, has a longer-term perspective, he will not want to use up the value embodied in the house as quickly as possible, after all, that would be reflected in a lower price of the house or of the country, and it would be reflected, of course, in the lower value of property being passed on to the next generation. So, a king has a long-run perspective, wants to preserve, and possibly, enhance the value of the country, whereas a democratic politician has a short-run orientation and wants to maximize his income as quickly as possible at the expense of losses in capital value.

Lew Rockwell: One of the points that you made in your book, Democracy: God that failed, that most impressed me, was the difference in wars waged under monarchs and under democracies, that there’s a reason why monarchical wars tended to be, what Mises described as “soldiers of wars”, whereas the democratic wars involved mass murders of civilians on a scale, of course, never before seen in human history.

Hans-Hermann Hoppe: And that began with something to do with the fact that monarchs considered countries as their property, and the reason for going to war, were typically, property disputes. Do I own this castle or somebody else owns this castle? Do I own this province or does somebody else? The objective was always limited, whereas democratic wars tend to be ideological wars. You want to liberate a country, you want to convert them to a different ideology and it is difficult to determine when you have actually achieved this goal. The only sure way to determine it is to kill the entire population of the country that you tried to invade or occupy, whereas a monarch, of course, would never have this interest, after all, he wants to add a certain province, a certain town, a certain castle to his own private estate, and wants to cause as little damage as possible. So, for monarchs, it was easy to begin a war, but it was always also very easy to determine when the objective had been reached, and the war came to an end. There was never any ideological motivation why different kings went to war against each other, whereas under democracies, in civil or religious wars, it is a clash of civilizations, a clash of value systems, and that makes it almost impossible to ever come to an end in wars and, in addition, kings’ wars were considered to be king’s by the public. Kings had to rely, by and large, on volunteers fighting their wars, whereas under democracies the entire country goes to war and all the resources of the entire country than can be dedicated to the war, and typically, with democracy, came also the draft. In the US nowadays we do not have a draft, but the typical situation for democracies is of course, that we do have a draft, people can be drawn into a war and forced into a war with the argument that “now you have a stake in the war, under democracy, now that you have a stake in the state, you must also fight the wars of the state", whereas under monarchy people did not have a stake in the state, it was considered to be the king’s affair, the public was entirely different entity from the state, and because of that their involvement in the war was very limited.

Lew Rockwell: The late Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, whom we both had the honor of knowing, used to point out that one of the things he liked about monarchical government was that there was much less nationalism, which is a feature of the 20th century and the 21st century, and that nobody thought there was anything wrong with, say, a German nobleman going into the employ of the Tsarina of Russia, nor people fighting on various sides were considered „traitors“. Of course, with the rise of democracy, we had the rise of this belligerent and unfortunate philosophy of nationalism.

Hans-Hermann Hoppe: The high aristocracy is, so to speak, the most international group of people. Almost all high noblemen are intermarried, interrelated with noblemen in other countries. The German Kaiser was related to the British rulers and to the Russian rulers, Kuehnelt-Leddihn even pointed out that all ruling houses in Europe were also related in some indirect way to Muhammad, through Islamic countries, and because those were family feuds, so to speak, feeling of nationalism was something impossible for them to arise, because they themselves were the most international class of people around, so nationalistic feelings were entirely strange and unusual for a class such as that.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

HRH Princess Mathilde of Belgium and HRH Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, officially opened the new Museum M last Sunday, the renovated city museum of Leuven, one of the oldest cities in the Low Countries, which hosts one of the oldest universities of Europe. The Princesses took the time to talk to the people who had turned up to greet them. As usual when they are together, they seemed to have a lot of fun while cutting the ribbon to declare the museum opened.

The museum currently hosts a collection of the Flemish Primitive artist Rogier Van der Weyden, one of the most important painters of the Medieval Low Countries.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her fiance Daniel Westling during Victoria's 32nd birthday celebrations on July 14, 2009 in Borgholm, Sweden. The royal wedding will take place at Stockholm’s Storkyrkan on June 19, 2010. The couple in choosing this date is following royal tradition. Crown Princess Victoria’s parents King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia were married June 19, 1976, on the same date in 1823 Crown Prince Oskar (later to become King Oskar I), wed Josefina of Leuchtenberg, and Crown Prince Karl (King Karl XV) married Princess Louise of the Netherland also on June 19, 1850.

Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she is shown an orphaned cygnet during a swan upping census, the ancient ritual of her swans being counted, on the River Thames, July 20, 2009. Traditionally, the Monarch of the United Kingdom owns all unmarked mute swans, which dates from the 12th century, when swans were a common food source for royalty. This year Her Majesty, as "Seigneur of the Swans," attended the Swan Upping ceremony for the first time in her reign, and the first time that a monarch has watched the ceremony in centuries.

Belgium's Crown Prince Philippe and his wife Crown Princess Mathilde talk while Queen Fabiola holds up an apple after the traditional military parade on National Day in front of the Royal Palace in Brussels July 21, 2009. The widow of King Baudouin showed humour by mocking her would-be assassins, who had written in anonymous letters to newspapers she would be killed with a cross bow during the national day celebrations. ‘Here is an apple’, the queen seemed to say, ‘so, where are you William Tell?"

Friday, September 11, 2009

TRH Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium and HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden officially opened the exhibition “It’s our Earth 2. From Kyoto to Copenhagen” at Tour & Taxis in Brussels on Wednesday. This is the new edition of the exhibition “It’s our Earth”, which focused on sustainable energy and development. Because of the great demand, the original exhibition was reopened, under the new name and with new emphasis on the influence of the human presence on the Earth, biodiversity, global warming and other contemporary issues.

The royals want to show their support for the efforts that are being undertaken to make people conscious of the need to change their habits, to counter global warming, climate change, and everything entailed in it.

In the afternoon, Prince Philippe and Princess Victoria attended the conference “Climate and Jobs – The EU’s Global Agenda”. The conference was organized by Sweden, who is currently presiding over the Council of the European Union.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Norway's Crown Prince Haakon got a chance last week to see for himself how his country's troops are faring in Afghanistan.

Hearing from the men how their efforts are helping rebuild the nation, his trip took him from Kabul to Maymenah and Faryab, and then back to Kabul.

"It was nice for me to come down here and see with my own eyes what the situation is for the Norwegian armed forces in this country," said the 36-year-old royal. "I am impressed by the Norwegian force contribution and I have learned a lot."

As a trained officer himself, Haakon can no doubt appreciate what his countrymen are going through. He served in the Royal Norwegian Navy undertaking his first-level officer's education at the Norwegian Naval Academy, followed by a year aboard missile torpedo boats and other vessels.

And he's not the first Europian heir to the throne to visit troops in the country. At the end of last year Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik spent time on bases in Helmand province, and this April Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands visited the Dutch troops stationed in the Afghan province of Uruzgan.

Friday, August 14, 2009

The Battle of Cer, one of the first battles of World War I, was was waged in the area of Mt. Cer from 16 to 20 August 1914. The battle between the Austro-Hungarian Army and Serbian forces under the supreme command of HRH Prince Regent Alexander Karadjordjevic marked the first Allied victory in the war.

Monday, July 27, 2009

On Friday, July 24, TM King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain officially inaugurated the GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias) or Grantecan, which is consider the most powerful and advanced telescope in the world.

The new “Crown Jewel” is situated at 2,400 meters above sea-level, in one of the top astronomical sites in the Northern Hemisphere: Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (RMO), on La Palma Island, a declared World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, and a place where Jose Miguel Rodriguez Espinosa, director of GCT, said it is an “ideal observation point, because it is scarcely populated and scarcely illuminated.”

On June 2, 2000, His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias, a well-known astronomy fan, laid the foundation stone of the GTC, and on July 2007 he also attended the “firs observation” of the new telescope.

“With this Observatory, Canaries and its peoples have demonstrated that this land, beyond its enviable tourist offer, offers undoubted possibilities for the development of new initiatives with the join of the rest of Spain”, said King Juan Carlos during the official inauguration.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark attended a press conference at the Pantomime Theatre in the Tivoli amusement park on July 15th, to discuss the costumes and scenography she designed for the ballet „The Swineherd“.

Queen Margrethe said that she took inspiration from royal caricatures when designing the costumes. Using colours like acid green, pink and purple, Margrethe told how she was inspired ”rather more from outsiders’ comments about my world than from my own.”

The Queen also told how as a young school-girl, she played the prince in her school theatre’s version of „The Swineherd“. “For the one thing I certainly would not be was the pink princess,” Margrethe II said with a big grin. She also told how important the works of Hans Christian Andersen are to her, reading several to her two eldest grandchildren, Princes Nikolai and Felix.

This ballet is the fourth Pantomime Theatre performance since 2001 that Queen Margrethe has been the scenographer for. The ballet features dancers from Denmark, neighbouring Norway and Finland, Spain and Portugal, France, England and the United States. It had its first show at Tivoli on July 16th, and will run until September 20th.

„The Swineherd“ is a fairytale written by the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story revolves around a poor prince who dresses as a swineherd to woo the Emperor’s daughter.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Retrospective exhibition of the works of Milena Pavlović-Barilli entitled „By the Trail of the Stars“, was opened last Friday at the Gallery of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), thus commencing marking the Centennial of birth of the most prominent Serbian artist.

Friday, July 17, 2009

The celebration of the 4th of July as if it's a libertarian holiday is a bit much to bear. Secession from Britain was a mistake. It's easy enough to realize that the Constitution was not some libertarian achievement as conservatives and libertarians delude themselves into thinking. The Declaration of Independence in 1776 led to all the standard evils of war and raising an army – in the words of Jeff Hummel, "unfunded government debt, paper money, skyrocketing inflation, price controls, legal tender laws, direct impressment of supplies and wide-spread conscription." Hmm, doesn't sound very libertarian to me. Stealing, conscripting, enslaving, murdering. The glorification of democracy. The expansion of empire. The entrenching of corporatist interests with the state. The substitution of traditional order with worship of the democratic state.

Monarchy isn't perfect, as Hoppe argues, but the move from monarchy to democracy was not "progress" as even some libertarians have mistakenly believed (as Hoppe notes, "although aware of the economic and ethical deficiencies of democracy, both Mises and Rothbard had a soft spot for democracy and tended to view the transition from monarchy to democracy as progress"). When I suggest it was a mistake to secede from Britain, libertarians – brainwashed by both Saturday morning Schoolhouse Rock propaganda (No More Kings; Fireworks; Three-Ring Government; The Preamble) and Randian pro-America mythology – freak out. "You want us to have a king? How terrible?!" or "But Britain is more socialist than we are!" Well, first, I don't want us to have a king. I'd prefer we have no state: no kings or congresscritters or revenuers. But we have a king now, under another name; he can tax and murder us, just like the dreaded monarchian boogey-man; the state is overlord of all our property, as in feudalism. And rejoining socialist Britain now would be terrible – but would the European monarchies have become democratic socialist states if America had never left Britain? Our secession led to a constructivist new utopian order based on a "rational, scientific" paper document and the rejection of traditional, unwritten, limits on state power, thus setting the world on the path of democracy and democratic tyranny, and all the evils of the 20th Century-WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, the Cold War, Communism, Naziism, Fascism, Great Depressions I and II. America's reckless utopianism corrupted its mother state, rendering it unfit to rejoin. But had we never left? One percent tax paid to a distant King over the ocean sound appealing, anyone?

If I didn't hate states and flags so much I might just fly the ole Union Jack this Saturday!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Robert Plant was honoured as a CBE by Prince Charles in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace last Friday, letting the former Led Zeppelin singer finally one-up guitarist Jimmy Page.

While Page is a member of the Order of the British Empire, Plant now outranks him with his new title of Commander of the British Empire.

Led Zeppelin have not played together since their one-off O2 Arena gig in December 2007. Though Page had tried to reunite the group for a tour with bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Jason Bonham, the late John Bonham's son, Plant declined to join them.

Asked if a Led Zeppelin reunion may still be on the horizon, Plant pretended to be hard of hearing. "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense," he said.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, TM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, and HM King Harald V of Norway attended the celebrations of Millennium of Lithuania’s name in the capital Vilnius last Monday.

Several other Heads of State also attended the celebrations: President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland, President Valdis Zatleras of Latvia, President Lech Kaczyński of Poland, President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine, President Tarja Halonen of Finland, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, as well as Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Legate of Pope Benedict XVI, and Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of Estonia.

The celebrations started with a flag Hoisting Ceremony on the Daukanto Square and the address by outgoing Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, after which the guests attended Holy Mass at Vilnius Cathedral. President Adamkus then opened the rebuild Palace of Rulers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In the afternoon the royal and other guests watched „The Song of the Centuries“ concert in Vingio Park. After the concert, the President of Lithuania hosted a gala reception in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace, dedicated to the Millennium of the First Mention of the Name of Lithuanian in Written Records and the Lithuanian State Day (King Mindaugas Coronation Day).

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Thank you all for coming. Thank you for your time, and attention to the cry for freedom and democracy on the streets of Iran. I can tell you, first hand, how much my compatriots are appreciative of your generous attention to their plight. The best I can do for you today is to recount what my fellow Iranians tell me about their conditions, hopes and fears.

Bear in mind that for the great majority of Iranians born after the Islamic Revolution, the unfolding events are the most significant transforming experiences of their collective memory. The courage of their convictions gives hope for peace and democracy in the most troubling region of the world. On the other hand, their defeat will encourage extremism from the shores of the Levant, to the energy jugular of the world. At the very least it will threaten regional tranquility and global economic recovery through fears of terrorism, slowdown of globalization and steeply higher energy prices. At worst, fanatical tyrants - who know that the future is against them - may end their present course on their terms: a nuclear holocaust.

But which will it be? That is the question of the day. My message to you is: do not underestimate the role you play in the outcome. International media are already the information artery connecting different parts of the freedom movement in Iran. That is why the regime has ominously warned media, that only officially approved reports can be dispatched out of the country. Having restricted the return path of media, they are also jamming electronic transmission and restricting internet traffic into the country. But it is the third leg of communication, from people to people, from one resistance cell to another, and from leaders to supporters inside Iran, of which the regime is most fearful. They cannot fight people who stand together. Only an information blackout can isolate individuals, so that they can be oppressed separately. Thus the outcome of this struggle will depend on your ability, the free media, to fight their blackout with the light of information.

Your second contribution is keeping your political leaders informed about the brutal violence of the regime's plain-clothes thugs against unarmed people. Your governments have insisted that they would not interfere in Iran's internal affairs. I applaud that. Any such attempt will give the tyrants the excuse they need to paper over their own differences, and target every man struggling for freedom as a foreign agent. But that is not all they do. They are painting every statement in defense of human rights as foreign interference, benefiting from the confusion between the two. It is vital that the free world not fall for such cruel cynicism in the name of realpolitik.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights knows no national boundaries. Its defense is not only a matter of ethics, but a mutual obligation of all governments who are its signatories. It is also in their interest. No one will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables cutting into faces and mouths of our young and old, or from bullets piercing our beloved "Neda" whose only sin was the quest freedom - no one, no one but tyrants and their thugs. Do not let them define what is disrespect for sovereignty, what is interference in others' affairs.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A movement was born on the 22nd of Khordad in my calendar, the 12th of June in yours. It is not Islamic or anti-Islamic, it is not for capitalism or socialism, nor any other ideology or specific form of government. It cares little about historical squabbles before its birth. It is about the sanctity, even more, the sovereignty of the ballot box. It may not succeed immediately. It may have ebbs and flows. But, let me assure you it will not die, because we will not let it die.

A week later, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic decided to stand erect as a dam in front of this movement, sanctioning theft of the ballot box and flagrant fraud, all in the name of Islam. It was an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man. It will not stand. The citizens of Iran will not stand it. And at the end, he will not stand.

Rest assured, the Movement of 22nd of Khordad, already invested with the blood of my brave countrymen, with energy and support in every corner of Iran and the globe will not rest until it achieves unfettered democracy and human rights in Iran.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Friedrich August von Hayek (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992) is rivaled by only Adam Smith as the preeminent theorist of the market system. Hayek's account of how changing relative prices communicate signals which enable individuals to coordinate their unique plans in an ever changing world is widely regarded as one of the landmark achievements of economic science. This and a host of other important contributions has made Hayek one of the most influential economists of modern times. One of the great polymaths of the 20th century, Hayek also made significant contributions in jurisprudence, neuroscience, philosophy and the history of ideas.

In 1974 Hayek shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with Gunnar Myrdal "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena." He also received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.

Hayek lived in Austria, Great Britain, the United States and Germany, and became a British subject in 1938.

In 1984, he was appointed as a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on the advice of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for his "services to the study of economics". After his twenty-minute audience with the Queen, he was "absolutely besotted" with her according to his daughter-in-law, Esca Hayek. Hayek said a year later that he was "amazed by her. That ease and skill, as if she'd known me all my life". The audience with the Queen was followed by a dinner with family and friends at the Institute of Economic Affairs. When, later that evening, Hayek was dropped off at the Reform Club, he commented: "I've just had the happiest day of my life".

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure® in Washington D.C. on Saturday.

US Vice President Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, are Honorary Co-Chairs of the Global Race for the Cure. Dr. Biden, a long-time advocate for breast health education and outreach, delivered a speech to more than 50,000 runners and walkers during the Race’s opening ceremonies.

“My husband Joe and I are thrilled to participate in the ongoing effort to raise awareness, fund research and empower people throughout the world in the fight against breast cancer,” said Dr. Biden.

Following the opening speech by HRH Crown Prince Alexander II, HRH Crown Princess Katherine in her speech said:„If you wonder, at the dawn of this beautiful day, whether what you are doing really has an impact on the entire world…If you wonder whether the steps you take in your nation’s capital today will have an impact in capitals across the globe…If you wonder whether the lives you are saving in the United States will translate into lives saved in Serbia, or Ghana, or Brazil…then wonder no more.“Ambassador Nancy Brinker said:” Nearly thirty years ago, before breast cancer took her life, my sister - Susan G. Komen - made me promise her that I would do everything in my power to find a cure for this horrible disease. Through my travels as Ambassador, I meet thousands of women who still need our help. I promise them that they will not be abandoned or forgotten”.

The race was also attended by the Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, actress Sarah Chalke, CBS’s The Early Show anchor Maggie Rodriguez, and W*USA9 morning anchor Andrea Roane, as well as Dr. Branko Terzic, member of the Crown Council and great friend of the Royal Couple.

The Komen Global Race for the Cure marked 20th annual running of the Komen Race for the Cure Series in Washington, D.C., which was formerly known as the Komen National Race for the Cure. Komen for the Cure gathered more than 50,000 people to participate in the Global Race and raised over $6.1 million.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

I live in Bangladesh, and have done so for almost half a century, though my parents were born within the sound of Bow Bells, and I am Anglo-Saxon, with blue eyes and fair hair. Of my ten grandchildren, five live in England, five in Bangladesh.

The fact that Britain has a good Queen, (and an intelligent, strong one) has provided me with a sense of identity to which I have clung throughout my life here. No president, elected or not, could possibly do the same for me or bring out the sense of pride I feel about myself. The monarchy provides glamour but also gains my respect and loyalty. The monarchy so fits in with my mental make-up, I cannot imagine how it would be without one.

I was born and brought up in Britain and my mother taught me from a very young age to pay allegiance to the Crown. She had a great regard for the monarch of the time, King George V and later for his son, King George VI. Her brother, my uncle, was decorated by King George V for bravery. When I was eight, I saw Queen Mary driving through Salisbury forest in Wiltshire. We had a street party to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937. I even remember the dresses we sisters wore - red, white and blue taffeta with blue "doggie" buttons. Strange the things that stay in the mind!

Perhaps, to some, this qualifies me as being “brainwashed”. But I do know that without a monarch I may have lost my sense of identity long ago as fate took me away from my homeland. I was isolated from the British community for many years as my husband and I were not in Dhaka till 1965 (the time of the Indo-Pakistan war) and only came into contact with a few of my countrymen at the end of that decade. Unfortunately these friendships did not last long, as the War of Liberation that began in March 1971 drove them away.

Being British is vitally important to me – and the monarch is at the centre of that. It is not just ‘pomp and ceremony’. The monarchy also gives me a sense of history - and permanency - in a world gone awry. It is an indispensable part of my heritage and makes me feel that, though 6000 miles away from home, I truly belong!

No nation is a wholly natural community. Without a unifying force it would soon fall apart into warring or feudal groups. In Britain, the seeds of dissent can be seen because immigrants do not feel they completely ‘belong’. Yet if they too had been subjected to the same kind of “brainwashing” I had, they would not feel like so many pieces of flotsam floating on a torrential sea.

The sense of “we” is so important to a people. It cannot continue if people are living in ghettoes and studying in religious schools. Without a monarchy to hold us together, we shall no longer be a nation but instead, many splinter groups all looking for something with which to identity. People would no longer feel they were British, or do all those simple things a nation does – from celebrating royal occasions or supporting England during international cricket matches. The sense of being “we” would no longer exist and Britain would be less than a nation.

Monday, June 1, 2009

HRH Prince Henry of Wales arrived in New York City on Friday, in his first ever official visit to the United States. The third in line to the British throne is in the Big Apple to raise money for his charity, Sentebale, and pay his respects to those who died in the 9/11 terror attacks.

Stopping by Ground Zero, he met with relatives of those who were killed that day. Harry then laid wreath on the fence that surrounds the deep hole where the World Trade Center once stood. He left a handwritten note tacked to the wreath, citing an “admiration of the courage shown by the people.”

Later on, Prince Harry moved to Hanover Square, to the renamed British Garden, to plant a magnolia bush in memory of the 67 Britons who died on 9/11.

Next, Harry went to the Veteran’s Medical Center to tour its prosthetics lab and meet some veterans. Prince Harry himself is a veteran in a sense. He fought for 10 weeks in Afghanistan in early 2008.

The next day the Prince toured Harlem's Children Zone, a community organization that offers families social and educational services, together with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. They chatted with students working preparing for a Regents Exam.

After that, he took part in one of his favorite activities - playing polo on Governor’s Island. On a brilliantly sunny day in New York Harbor, the Prince drew a crowd that included stars like Madonna, actresses Kate Hudson and Chloe Sevigny, and rapper LL Cool J, but also lots of ordinary New Yorkers out for a rare sight: a polo game in the city. The event will raise money for Harry’s Sentebale charity which helps children in the Lesotho, a small kingdom in southern Africa.

"Prince Seeiso and I both lost our mothers when we were very young," Harry said in brief remarks before the match. "We set up Sentebale in their memory, and because my mother loved this city, it makes this occasion all the more poignant for me."

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Belgian Crown Prince, HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, travelled on Wednesday to the Kazach steppes, to Star City Baikonur, where he attended the launch of the Soyuz, on a landmark mission that will double the crew of the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-15 craft carrying Russian Cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk and Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne soared into the hot afternoon skies over Kazakhstan's northern steppe on a two-day journey to the orbiting station. The three will join the three crew members already on board the ISS, giving the station six permanent members for the first time.

Prince Philippe attended the very last meeting of the astronauts with the press, family and friends. He told De Winne that the whole of Belgium was with him in thoughts, and his 6-month stay at the ISS would be followed from down below. Frank De Winne, a General in the Belgian Air Force, thanked the Prince, not only for his kind words and his coming to Kazakhstan, but also for his support to space travel in general.

After that, scores of journalists, relatives and Prince Philippe, watched from a viewing stand a mile (1.5 kilometers) away, applauding as the rocket roared into the sky.

"This is very important for Belgium. De Winne represents Europe and he represents Belgium. He represents international collaboration for peaceful application of science", the Prince said.

Monday, May 25, 2009

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco played on May 19 in a charity football match for AMADE Monaco (Association Mondiale des Amis de l'Enfance, World Association of Children's Friends), a foundation that helps children from around the world by developing infrastructure and has special ties to the Monaco ruling family, as it was first organized by Princess Grace. Princess Caroline currently heads the organization but was unable to attend the event.

The AMADE football match is an annual event that is played against current Formula 1 drivers with the opposition coming from past F1 drivers and other celebrities. The match always occurs in the week of the Monaco Grand Prix and is played at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

This year, playing on the Formula 1 'Nazionale Piloti team' were Formula 1 drivers such as Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Giorgio Pantano.Some of the players on the Star team were HSH Prince Albert II, Riccardo Patrese, Max Biaggi, Troy Corser, Alex Caffi and Marco Simone. Both teams were cheered on the sidelines by Monaco’s Princess Stephanie.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Alastair Endersby has twice coached England teams in the World Schools Debating Championships. He currently teaches History and Politics at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, England. He is the Editor of Debatabase.

Constitutional monarchy is a very effective political system. A hereditary Head of State acts as an important element of continuity within a democratic system. The real powers (as opposed to purely theoretical ones – no British ruler has actually vetoed an Act of Parliament since c1720) of European monarchs are negligible. But as unelected figures above the political conflicts of the day, they retain an important symbolic role as a focus for national unity (very important in Belgium, for example). In Britain their right “to advise, encourage and warn” the Prime Minister of the day has acted as a check against overly radical policies, in Spain King Juan Carlos actually faced down a military coup in the 1980s.

Monarchy acts as a guardian of a nation’s heritage, a living reminder of the events and personalities that have shaped it. As such it is a powerful focus for loyalty and a source of strength in times of crisis, for example World War II, and a reminder of enduring values and traditions. Separating the positions of Head of State and Head of Government also makes great practical sense; the monarchy undertakes much of the ceremonial work at home and abroad, leaving the Prime Minister free to focus more effectively upon governing.

Monarchy is highly cost-effective when compared to the expense of maintaining a Presidency with a large staff and equally stringent security requirements. Royal residences are held in trust for the nation, and would require the same upkeep costs whether they were inhabited by a monarch or not. Instead monarchy more than pays its way through its generation of tourist revenue as millions visit sites associated with royalty, and through its role in promoting trade and industry abroad on royal visits.

Monarchy is preferable to the alternative; an elected Presidency. It avoids the partisan nature of a Presidency, inevitably associated with one of the political parties, and thus incapable of uniting the nation as monarchy can. In all countries public trust of politicians is sinking to new lows, another reason why an elected Presidency fails to provide a focus for national feeling. Constitutional monarchy is also a more effective system of government, vesting real power clearly in the hands of democratically accountable leaders with a mandate to govern, without all the dangers of political gridlock that can result from conflict between two differently elected bodies (e.g. in the USA or France).

Monarchy can lead public opinion. Although above party politics, modern monarchs have proved able to raise important and sometimes unpopular issues that would otherwise have been ignored. For example, in the U.K. Prince Charles has legitimised discussion of environmental issues and stimulated a lively debate about the purpose of architecture, while Princess Diana’s work with Aids sufferers helped shift public opinion.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Speaking at the launch of the report was UN Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Programme, HRH Princess Haya bint al-Hussein of Jordan (wife of Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai) who emphasised that disasters are added to the present challenges faced such as poverty, education, health, and famine. „It’s hard to motivate political leaders to focus on preventive measures to face possible disasters, because politically it’s difficult under the normal circumstances to convince the people of the benefits of such investments to face things which might not take place,” she said.

The report calls for a shift in thinking to reduce disaster risks and to adapt to climate change in order to reduce poverty. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to all nations to bolster efforts to curb disaster risk, stressing that decisive action taken now can be „one of the best investments countries can make.“

Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover (Princess Caroline of Monaco) was in Paris on May 14 to preside over the annual gathering of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The Annual Meeting, convened by the Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, brings together a large number of international personalities, from the worlds of art, film, music, literature, charity and public affairs.

Princess Caroline has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 2003 and uses her role in the forum to promote education and training for young women.

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter.

Also participating at the Goodwill Ambassadors gathering were HRH Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco (sister of King Mohammed VI) and HRH Princess Firyal of Jordan (sister-in-law of the late King Hussein). Princess Lalla Meryem seeks to promote the UN body activities in zones stricken by post-conflicts and natural disasters. Speaking at the Annual Meeting she said: “My country’s commitment in this regard is as strong as its attachment to peacekeeping operations, in which it has been actively involved for almost 50 years.”

Thursday, May 14, 2009

A meeting took place at the Royal Palace in Belgrade between Mr. Dragomir Acović and Mr. Dušan Babac, the members of the Privy Council, and Mr. Veljko Suzić and Mrs. Dobrinka Golubović who informed the Privy Council about the current projects of the Royal Historical Society and Rotary Club Sombor. Also present at the meeting was Mr. Gavrilo Došen, chairman of the Monarchist Initiative. Particular emphasize was put on the project Sombor Salash Cluster, which aims at revitalization of small and medium farms, and is supported by the TAM program of the EBRD. Mr. Acović pointed up the willingness to assist these projects.

Mr. Sima Jančić, member of the Royal Historical Society (RHS), presented the archive of the Royal Palace with copies of his family archive documents related to the Royal Family, and gave HRH Crown Prince Alexander a copy of his book „Window of an Architect“ as a personal gift.

Mr. Branko Milešević, RHS member, took photographs of the Royal Compound in Dedinje, some of which are going to be exhibited during the „Museum Night“ manifestation in Sombor.

Mr. Acović and Mr. Babac were introduced to the members and friends of the RHS and Rotary Club Sombor. Mr. Acović pointed out that Sombor is one of the towns in Serbia and Vojvodina where different cultures and traditions meet, and where the idea that one’s own identity can be preserved within the community that shares the same present and future.